Blues slam Control Yuan picks

BAD CHOICES Criticism focused on the Presidential Office's suggestions for the top two posts, who the blues say are too cozy with the Chen administration

By Caroline Hong / STAFF REPORTER

Huang Teh-fu, the KMT caucus party whip, holds up President Chen Shui-bian's list of Control Yuan nominations yesterday, while criticizing Chen for nominating Clement Chang to the Yuan's presidency.

PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, LIBERTY TIMES

The list of candidates to comprise the next Control Yuan is unacceptable, the pan-blue camp declared yesterday, stating that nominees given to the legislature for consideration by the Presidential Office yesterday are not neutral enough to join the nation's highest watchdog body.

While holding off on a decision on whether they would approve the list of candidates, pan-blue camp legislative caucuses yesterday took issue with the president's choices of former transportation minister and senior advisor to the president Clement Chang (張建邦) and National Policy Adviser Michael Hsiao (蕭新煌) as president and vice president, respectively, of the Control Yuan.

A list of 27 additional candidates recommended by the Presidential Office to become Control Yuan members was delivered to the legislature yesterday, with negotiations between the legislative caucuses about the nominees to begin today. While the president has recommendation powers, the Constitution stipulates that the legislature must consent to the nominations.

Implying that Control Yuan members should be chosen on the basis of their political neutrality, both the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) legislative caucuses yesterday stated that both Chang and Hsiao are unsuitable given connections to the ruling administration.

"Neither Chang or Hsiao are impartial members of the community; they are both forever [affiliates of] the ruling party," KMT legislative whip Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) said yesterday morning.

Huang said that Chang, has no deep connection with the KMT -- despite that fact that he is a member of the KMT's Central Advisory Committee. Chang is an ally of former president and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) spiritual leader Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and has been working as a senior advisor to the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration since 2000, he said.

Huang added that while Hsiao is a National Taiwan University professor, he has been a presidential advisor during both the Chen and Lee administrations and was a key member of Chen's presidential campaign earlier this year -- clear proof of his political bias, according to Huang.

"President Chen's nominees were actually made with the sole purpose of controlling the Control Yuan," Huang said yesterday.

"Hsiao is an academic `under the employ of the emperor,'" said PFP legislative whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), echoing Huang's complaints.

Both Liu and Huang refused to comment on the other Control Yuan nominations besides those for president and vice president, saying that they will look for a consensus on the nominations from their individual caucuses during meetings set to take place today.

In response to rumors that the PFP plans to unilaterally reject the Presidential Office's nominees, Huang told reporters that while the KMT legislative caucus does not approve of all the nominees, it respects the president's authority to nominate Control Yuan candidates.

"We will use very strict standards to evaluate the nominees," Huang said yesterday.

Huang also said it was suspicious that none of the current Control Yuan members involved in investigations dealing with the first family and the Taiwan High Speed Railway Co (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) were among yesterday's nominees.

Two such members that are involved in the two investigations are Ku Den-mei (古登美) and Ma Yi-kung (馬以工).